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Credit Card Debt Puzzles

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Haliassos
  • Michael Reiter

Abstract

Most US credit card holders revolve high-interest debt, often combined with substantial (i) asset accumulation by retirement, and (ii) low-rate liquid assets. Hyperbolic discounting can resolve only the former puzzle (Laibson et al., 2003). Bertaut and Haliassos (2002) proposed an "accountant-shopper" framework for the latter. The current paper builds, solves, and simulates a fully-specified accountant-shopper model, to show that this framework can actually generate both types of co-existence, as well as target credit card utilization rates consistent with Gross and Souleles (2002). The benchmark model is compared to setups without self-control problems, with alternative mechanisms, and with impatient but fully rational shoppers.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Haliassos & Michael Reiter, 2005. "Credit Card Debt Puzzles," Working Papers 233, Barcelona School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bge:wpaper:233
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    File URL: http://www.barcelonagse.eu/sites/default/files/working_paper_pdfs/233.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Irina A. Telyukova & Randall Wright, 2008. "A Model of Money and Credit, with Application to the Credit Card Debt Puzzle," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(2), pages 629-647.
    2. Irina Grafova, 2007. "Your Money or Your Life: Managing Health, Managing Money," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 285-303, June.
    3. Pier-André Bouchard St-Amant & Jean-Denis Garon, 2015. "Optimal redistributive pensions and the cost of self-control," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(5), pages 723-740, October.
    4. Amromin, Gene & Huang, Jennifer & Sialm, Clemens, 2007. "The tradeoff between mortgage prepayments and tax-deferred retirement savings," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(10), pages 2014-2040, November.
    5. Guiso, Luigi & Sodini, Paolo, 2013. "Household Finance: An Emerging Field," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1397-1532, Elsevier.
    6. Paolina C. Medina & Jose L. Negrin, 2022. "The Hidden Role of Contract Terms: The Case of Credit Card Minimum Payments in Mexico," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3856-3877, May.
    7. Heski Bar-Isaac & Vicente Cuñat, 2005. "Long term debt with Hidden Borrowing," Working Papers 05-04, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    8. Olga Gorbachev & María José Luengo-Prado, 2019. "The Credit Card Debt Puzzle: The Role of Preferences, Credit Access Risk, and Financial Literacy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 294-309, May.
    9. Fulford, Scott L., 2015. "How important is variability in consumer credit limits?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 42-63.
    10. Carolyn St Aubyn, 2022. "Consumer choices with wealth preferences and separation of consumption and payment," BCAM Working Papers 2201, Birkbeck Centre for Applied Macroeconomics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit Cards; debt; self control; household portfolios;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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